There’s that saying about making your bed and then having to sleep in it. “You’ve made this choice, and now it is also you who must face the consequences.”
Actually, our decisions rarely happen in isolation. Most of them affect other people in one way or another. A breakup is not an event we carry alone. Nor is any decision made at work or in business. We have customers, coworkers, and partners.
Even what you choose to eat can impact other people. Not just the ones who produce, market, and sell the food you buy, but also those close to you. If you eat yourself sick, they might be the ones caring for you, be that until your stomach bug has passed or providing lifelong assistance in your battle against diabetes.
The point is that, most of the time, you’re not just making your bed. You’re making other people’s beds as well – yet they too must then sleep in them, even if the choice was cast upon them.
It’s easy to wander through life recklessly when you believe you’re the only one dealing with the fallout of your actions, but the truth is you almost never are. You’ll shoulder the brunt of it, sure, but there’ll always be someone in the periphery, and we know radiation can kill even at a distance.
Be a good innkeeper, will you? Know who’s around your guest house. Remember whose beds you’ll have to make beside your own, and then do it with intention.